Of Meralonde and the Entwives
by ilovelordoftherings
Summary: The fellowship has just left Moria. Orcs chase them into the woode of Meralonde and their adventures lead them to Entwives!
1. Default Chapter

The fellowship has left Moria. Gandalf is lost, as is all hope of the fellowship ever fulfilling their quest. Without Gandalf, everything seems bleak and dark, as if the fellowship had been there when Teleprion and Laurelin, the trees of light in Valinor, had just been extinguished. Aragorn leads them on, but a heavy weight lies in his heart as well. He has decided to lead them into the woods of Lothlorien, of where legends speak of a great sorceress, a queen of elves, who puts all who see her under her spell. Many members of the fellowship are against this decision, namely Gimli, but none can argue with Aragorn's decision, for he is their new guide, and he is the only one who has been in these strange lands before. The members of the fellowship trudge along sadly, the loss of Gandalf still heavy on their hearts. Suddenly they hear the sound of drums beating and the yell of Orcs. "Run!" cried Aragorn. Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir pick up the hobbits and they all head for the woodland ahead. Aragorn knows that they will not last unless they reach the shelter of the trees. Sure enough, as some kind of spell was on the forest, the moment the fellowship passes its borders, the Orcs go no further, but turn around and flee. The fellowship walks cautiously along amongst the trees, when they hear a horn blowing. "That is no Orc horn! It is that of the elves!" Legolas exclaimed heartily. "But of what elves I do not know. Certainly we have not reached Lothlorien. The Golden Wood is miles and miles away." "No, Legolas, this is not Lothlorien. I do not know where we are, but let us hope they are friends." Aragorn had a look of puzzle on his face, and beneath his cloak his hand rested on the hilt of his sword. The horn blew louder and the trees shook. As if a signal had been given, elves came warily out of the trees pointing bows and spears at the fellowship. Each elf was clad in white robes embroidered with a silver crest, a symbol of their race. A sliver-white horse trotted up to meet the captives gallantly. Its rider was clad in an even finer garment than its kin was. The rider, in robed of flowing sliver and white, and the horse, finer than the Mearas of Rohan, looked as one. The rider glided off the horse with ease. "I am Luthiar, daughter of Beren and Luthien. Why have you come, Aragorn, son of Arathorn? What business do you and your companions have with the Meralonde and our woods? I sense your uneasiness. Come, you and your companions are welcome here, but I must know your errand, and whom you serve. There have been strange creatures seen coming from the Mines, creatures of the like we have never seen before. If you be one of them, you shall not leave this place ever again. I am troubled by these creatures, and it would bring us all great comfort to learn tidings of the world outside our wood." Luthiar glided back onto her horse and together they lead the fellowship to a place of such beauty that none knew what to say. Luthiar bade them sit down on the chairs that none of them had noticed, for each chair was made of a sturdy vine that grew flowers of such exotic species that even Sam could not identify them. The eight chairs were soon filled, and each member of the fellowship thought in his mind 'Who are these people? I am sure they think we are spies or Orcs, and that is a dreadful thought' which brought little comfort. "First," said Luthiar, "I must know. Do you serve Sauron the Deciever, or Saruman the White? Do not attempt to lie, it will only hurt you more." "No," Aragorn answered. "We serve our purpose, of that we cannot tell you now, but Gandlf the Grey was our friend, and we would never betray him." "Was? You speak as if Gandalf once was but now isn't." "Gandalf fell into the shadow in the Mines. The last Balrog left in Middle Earth was his doom. Gandalf gave his life for us." Legolas got a far- off look in his eyes. His companions knew that emotions like grief were new to him, and it would take him longer than all the rest to recover. "Then you are friends. That, if nothing else you tell me, is good news, for there has been very little of that lately." Luthiar was silent for a moment. "What is your story? You need not tell me the purpose of your journey, for I believe that I will know in good time." The fellowship told their tale, leaving only the ring out. When they were through, one of the elves lead them to bedrooms. The bedrooms were high in the trees, and had no windows, for in the woods of the Meralonde were always warm and airy. All of the fellowship was asleep quickly, but Frodo could not sleep. He kept wondering, 'Every minute something unexpected happens. But what will happen next?' 


	2. Of Meliara and leaving Meralonde

The next morning, Sam came rushing into Frodo's room. "Sam! What is it? Is something wrong?" Frodo hadn't had any sleep the past night, and he was worried about everything. "No, Mr. Frodo! It's wonderful! Luthiar said that we were going to a garden hall today!" "A garden hall, Sam? What's that?" "You know, its like in Rivendell where all the buildings had giant halls with carvings and great designs. Well it's like a garden here. Luthiar says we're to spend the day there! Isn't it wonderful, Mr. Frodo?" "Yes, Sam. I'll be ready in a few minutes." Sam left the room and Frodo emerged shortly. Together they walked to where the rest of the fellowship was gathered. Luthiar was there, along with a few of her servants. Horses were given out, all of them almost equal to the quality of Luthiar's horse. They rode following Luthiar until at last they were in a great circle. Pine trees outlined the circle as if it were a great meeting place. It reminded Sam of the Council of Elrond, where they all sat in a place like this. 'Do all elves have a hall like this?' he wondered to himself. "Yes, Master Gamgee. All elves have a great meeting place where all important matters are discussed. We are here now to discuss an important matter. The fate of your quest lies, at this very moment, in our hands. Yes, yours and mine. For if you do not pass the perils of our land and reach Lothlorien, the quest will fail and Sauron will find the ring. Yes, I know about the ring. I can see it in your eyes, every one of you. Iluvatar himself gave my people the gift of seeing. We see beyond what you want us to see. Do not fear, you are safe in the keeping of my people." "Our land is not as large as it seems. We only live at the heart of the wood, and all around evil things lurk." The speaker was a tall elf. Her shining gold hair flowed down her back and her eyes had a strange look to them. "You came to us by the power of our people. Evil things cannot harm you when you are on the Paths of the Free. Our people won a great battle there and regained our freedom from the clutch of evil hands. We have dwelt here ever since. In order to leave this land, which you must very soon, you will have to pass through the evil on our borders. I am Meliara, daughter of Luthiar, and I will guide you to the borders of our wood, and the borders of the evil lands. I must leave you before you reach Lothlorien, however." The next morning, the fellowship and Meliara set out from the great Elf City. Meliara was as skilled a tracker as Aragorn, and had equal aim with a bow as Legolas. They passed through the Elf lands easily enough, then they reached the dark lands. "Keep your weapons ready." Meliara clutched the handle of a knife at her side. Legolas had an arrow fitted to the string of his bow, Aragorn had drawn his sword, and Gimli's ax was ever at the ready. Aragorn noticed large tracks in the mud, and Meliara knew them to be those of a troll. "Keep quiet and no sudden moves." She whispered. Aragorn nodded silently and they kept on. A deep roar from behind told them that they weren't alone. Legolas and Meliara shot arrows at the troll. It winced and grunted everything it was shot, but the troll moved so fast that most of the shafts missed. Aragorn wounded it with his sword and Gimli with his ax. All four hobbits drew daggers and charged, only to run back again when the troll charged at them too. The troll picked up a fallen knife and wounded Merry's shoulder badly. All of the fellowship and Meliara had wounds and it seemed as if all was lost, when from behind them a high, shrill war-cry rang out. Merry's eyes were closed as he tried to staunch the pain in his shoulder, and he didn't see his rescuer. Sam, however, was wide-awake with only small injuries, and saw the entire thing. It was as if a giant tree had sprung to life and was fighting the troll. The evil beast finally fell backwards, dead. The tree picked the fellowship and Meliara up in her branches, and carried them away. When Sam awoke, he was lying on what seemed to be a straw mattress, but what he later realized was that it was a large, stone table covered in straw as a giant bed for the fellowship. He looked up, and there was the tree, standing by the opening in (what Sam discovered he was in) the cave. "S'cuse me, but I don't mean to be impolite or anything, but, er, what-I mean who are you?" 


	3. Fimbrethil

"That is an interesting question. I will answer it when I feel the time is right." The tree looked at Sam with a smile that showed large, green-tinted teeth. "But who are you? That is the present question." "My name is Sam. I'm a hobbit. You know a Halfling? One of the Little People?" "Yes, from the Shire, correct? Hoom hum yes. I was there once, when I was a young Entmaiden." "Pardon me, once more, but what's an Entmaiden?" "Hoom hum yes. Well an Entmaiden is a female Ent, destined to become an Entwife." Sam looked a little confused, so she continued. "We once lived with the Ents, however we realized that there love was for the trees, while ours was for gardens and flowers. We left the Ents and crossed the Great Anduin many years ago. We made many gardens there and lived peacefully until Sauron's servants wrecked the land and destroyed all our hard work. We fled to this place, right outside the borders of Lothlorien. Here we have dwelt, all that is left of the Entwives. I do not know what happened to the Ents. Many times I have wanted to cross the Anduin and find one whom I loved. His name was Fangorn, Treebeard some called him. How I would love to see him again. But that is not possible, at least not now, for the spies and servants of the Dark Lord patrol the banks of the Great River and none can pass unseen." "That is very sad indeed, er, what was your name?" "My name is Fimbrethil." "Yes, well that is all very sad and I hope one day you will be reunited. Look! Mr. Frodo is awake!" "Good morning, Sam!" Frodo exclaimed cheerfully. After a full night's sleep he was refreshed and happy. "Thanks very much for what you did last night. I can't say I saw the entire rescue, I'm afraid I must have gone unconscious at some point. But thanks all the same, if it weren't for you we'd be dead!" "You are very welcome. It has been a long time since I had any company around here. It's so dreary that it's quite nice to have visitors." Presently the rest of the fellowship woke up. Meliara walked over to where Fimbrethil was standing and greeted her as an old friend. "It's great to see you again! How has everything been?" Noticing the fellowship's confused expressions, she explained. "Once I went wandering though the forest alone when I was very small. Fimbrethil saved me and we've been good friends ever since. I try to visit her every so often, and that's one of the reasons I was so anxious to come with you." There were nods and murmurings of 'that's very nice' and 'how wonderful' and then there was silence. Fimbrethil was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "You need to be on your way very soon. Lothlorien is not far and I have packed you supplies and Ent draughts, fashioned in the style that Ents made them long ago." She looked sad at this, but perked up when Sam asked her if they had planted any gardens here. "Yes, yes. Are you a gardener, Sam? Wonderful! You will certainly enjoy our trip to the edge of the Golden Wood." Sam did enjoy it very much. In fact, it was almost as nice as staying in Rivendell with the elves. There were trees, young and old, lining the path. Small flowers of every color crept out from beneath them. Sam could practically feel everything growing as if it were walking beside him. He felt like he was in paradise. They reached the edge of the forest and Fimbrethil stopped. "This is where I leave you. I am sorry to see you go so soon, and I hope that you will come back and visit me. In the meantime, I wish you good luck. Farewell." "I too must go." Meliara had told them she would leave before they reacher Lorien. They all knew it, but none of them wanted her to leave. "Really, I must. I have business to attend to back in the city. I truly am sorry to leave you. Like Fimbrethil, I wish you the best of luck. May the fellowship succeed in all they do. Farewell!" She turned and walked slowly away. She whistled high and long, and from the shadows, a white horse galloped out to meet her. She mounted and, like her mother, became one with the horse. They sped off into the dark woods. "On to Lothlorien!" Aragorn cried, and they started off to find to Golden Wood. Even after two good encounters with elves, Gimli would still not trust them. The rest of the fellowship was in high spirits, for even though their two new friends had left them, their memories still remained. 


End file.
